Walt Kyle, 49, is the head men's hockey coach at Division I Northern Michigan University in Marquette. In May, Kyle was named head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team competing in the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship starting Sunday, Dec. 26 in Vancouver. Kyle recently took the time to chat with USA TODAY's Adam Hirshfield.

Walt, you're the head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team ... what exactly does that entail?

No. 1, I'm in charge of the team selection process. When you're in charge of a team, you certainly want to have input on the players you're coaching. We had a camp this summer in Lake Placid, N.Y., then continued with the evaluation process through the first half of this (college) season and named the team about 10 days ago. That was Phase 1.

Phase 2 started Sunday (Dec. 18) when our team got together in Seattle and Victoria and Vancouver for a short training camp. Then the World Junior Championship gets underway Sunday, Dec. 26.

Most of your players are college players in the U.S. What kind of scouting are you able to do before selecting the team?

We have a scouting staff, which consists of our general manager Jim Johansson and two guys who work in the National Hockey League who are out for us watching guys on a full-time basis. Our entire coaching staff is involved in scouting as well. We also talk to guys in the business out doing the job, and we solicit their opinions as well.

You're the head coach at Northern Michigan, a very competitive college team in the middle of its season. How do you find time to also lead the U.S. Team?

Well, a lot of the work for the national team was done over the summer, which is a down time at the university. Also, the people at the university have been good enough to allow me some time off to go represent our country. There are some extra hours that need to be put in, not only by me, but by the other people on our coaching staff to make sure we're prepared for this.

Does one coaching job take precedent?

The team at Northern takes precedent while I'm here, because there isn't much to do once the selection has been done for the junior team. But when I'm with the junior team, obviously that will take precedent, and I'll leave the team at Northern in the very capable hands of my coaching staff here. I'm going to be missing two games, and my staff will be doing all it takes to make Northern successful while I'm away.

You were an assistant coach for four years in the NHL with the Mighty Ducks and Rangers. What is the pressure of coaching in the U.S. national team program like compared to being an assistant in the NHL?

As an assistant in the NHL, there's nowhere near as much pressure on you as on the head coach. You have an obligation to do the very best you can for that guy, but at the end of the day, he's the guy who feels the most heat. With the junior team, I'm the guy.

You were a player at Northern Michigan. What's it like spending so much time at one school with one team?

I started my college career at Boston College, playing two seasons there. I left BC in '78 and transferred to Northern, sat out a year, then played here in '79-'80 and '80-'81. I was really blessed to be able to play in college and to play in the NCAA Final Four each of the last three years. When I left school, Rick Comley, who was the coach here at the time (and on and off from 1976-2002), hired me to be his assistant. I was here five seasons, then took off to coach in the WHL and for a couple of different NHL farm teams. Then this job came back open, and it was an opportunity to move my family back to what we considered home. My kids were old enough that we wanted to give them a little stability in their lives and it's been a great move.

If you could find success as a coach or as a player, which would you prefer?

I never was a good enough player to worry about finding success as a player. I knew at a very young age that I loved hockey, that I was a student of the game and that I wanted to be a coach. So for me, it would be really gratifying to have success as a coach, because I wasn't ever good enough to find success as a player.

If you could win an NCAA title or a world championship with the junior team, which would you rather do?

I'd prefer to do 'em both, I can tell you that right now! It's always an honor and a privilege to represent your country and of course you want to make the most of that opportunity with what we hope is a great group of guys. But here at Northern, I've sweated a lot and bled a lot with the guys who are here, and I certainly owe them a lot. It's a tough question to answer, but my preference would be to win them both.

Which teams are going to be your top competition at the world championships?

When you're in a tournament like this, I've been involved enough to know there are always four or five teams that have the opportunity and talent to win it. We hope to be one of those teams. Beyond that, it comes down to a number of issues: The first would be your chemistry and how your team develops as a group, and that itself comes down to leadership and how willing the players are to accept their roles. We don't know any of how that will work out now. We'll have to see what kind of job we do as coaches and what kind of job the players do of accepting and adapting to the jobs and roles we give them.

Who are some of the great youngsters you've dealt with as a coach? Drop some names.

I am excited to work with all of these guys. They're all elite players and they're all going to bring different things to this tournament. I hope at the end of it, we're all going to have had some success. I'll be a better coach and they can be better players.

What do you see as Phil Kessel's greatest strength as a player?

He has a great all-around skill package. He's a phenomenal skater, he's got excellent poise with the puck, he has good vision, he shares the puck with his teammates. He's just a dynamic, dynamic guy. I'd say that with all the skills that he has, he is a real special player. Future NHL star, absolutely. Top pick in the draft, absolutely.

Are there other players on your national roster who will be big-time NHL players?

I think this roster is filled with guys who are going to have careers in the National Hockey League. But at the end of the day, this tournament is not won by prospects, it's won by players. And we didn't pick this roster based on who we thought would have careers in the NHL; that's a side benefit and an interesting story for the people watching this tournament. We picked this roster based on who we thought would help us win a medal.

So with things so busy on the hockey front, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Be with my kids. That is my spare time. When you're a father of four, that becomes your hobby. They're the most important things in my life and I enjoy spending my time with them.